Chapter 14 The Shadow at the Window
Eli moves so fast that I barely register the blur of him stepping into the hallway. His broad shoulders block the doorway completely, and he angles his body like a shield preparing for impact.
Marcus’s footsteps pound up the stairs. Each one grows sharper, heavier, and more invasive. I grab the doorframe to steady myself. My pulse drums with such force that it drowns out everything else.
“Seraphina!”
He calls my name again. His voice is louder now, soaked in accusation and the kind of entitlement that has haunted me for years.
Maya screams behind us, and the sound slices straight through me.
Eli’s voice rips down the hall. It is deep and dangerous in a way I have never heard from him.
“Turn around and walk out of this house.”
The tone does not sound human. It sounds like a final warning. The kind someone gives right before a fight begins.
Marcus reaches the top step and nearly collides with him. Eli does not move. He does not even flinch.
Marcus lifts both hands, pretending calm. “Relax. I heard my daughter scream and I came inside. I thought something was wrong.”
“You broke into the house,” Eli growls. “That is not concern. That is trespassing.”
Marcus smiles in that cold, thin way he uses when he wants to provoke. “Only if someone presses charges.”
Eli steps forward slowly. Marcus instinctively steps back. They are the same height, but Eli feels heavier. He feels immovable, like stone.
“Where is she?” Marcus demands.
“Safe,” Eli spits. “Safer than she will ever be with you.”
I have never heard Eli sound like this. Not when we were teenagers. Not when he defended me behind the gym in ninth grade. Not even when Kahlia disappeared.
Marcus looks past him, searching for me. When he spots me, his expression softens into something false, something rehearsed.
“Sera,” he says softly. “Sweetheart, what is happening? Why is Maya screaming? Why are you shaking?”
Eli goes rigid.
“She is scared because a stranger broke into her home,” Eli snaps.
Marcus scoffs. “I am not a stranger. I am her father.”
“You are the reason she is crying,” I whisper.
Marcus stills. He did not expect that. “What? Sera, what are you talking about?”
Eli cuts in. “You crossed a boundary. You stepped inside uninvited. You need to leave.”
Marcus looks between us. “You are letting him speak for you now. This is what we are doing.”
“Marcus,” I say, my voice thin, “this is not the time.”
“No,” he fires back. “This is exactly the time. Because Maya is screaming. And I heard her say it again.”
A cold ripple moves through me. “Say what?”
“The lady.”
Eli’s head snaps toward him. His expression sharpens with lethal precision.
“What did you just say?” Eli asks.
Marcus’s eyes glitter. “You heard me.”
“How do you know about that?”
Marcus looks far too calm. “Because she told me last weekend.”
My mind struggles to make sense of it. “She barely talks to you.”
“Oh, she talks,” Marcus says smoothly. “She said a lady watches her from the closet.”
Before I can breathe, Eli grabs Marcus by the shirt and slams him against the wall. The drywall cracks with a sound that echoes down the hallway.
“Eli.” My voice is sharp with fear.
Maya screams again.
Marcus only smirks. “Careful. I will add assault to the list.”
“How do you know about the lady?” Eli snarls.
“I told you.” Marcus grins. “Maya tells her favorite parent her fears.”
It takes all of Eli’s strength not to break him in half.
Maya screams again.
This time it is sharp. High. Terrified.
Eli releases Marcus immediately and sprints to the bedroom.
I chase him.
He reaches the doorway first and stops so abruptly that I slam into his back.
When I look past him, my heart shatters.
Maya sits in the middle of the bed, clutching her panda, sobbing so hard her small body vibrates. Her eyes are wide and glowing with panic.
“Mama,” she cries. “She is right there.”
I turn toward the window.
A handprint appears on the glass.
It does not press onto the window. It appears.
A woman’s hand.
Slender.
Long-fingered.
Pressed from the outside, as if someone is leaning close to watch my child.
The hand drags downward and leaves a fogged trail behind it, like breath exhaled on cold glass.
“Oh God,” I whisper.
A shadow shifts beyond the window.
Something tall.
Then it fades.
Eli moves first. He scoops Maya into his arms and holds her pressed tightly against his chest. “Do not look,” he murmurs into her hair.
She cries harder.
The room sways. My knees feel weak and hollow.
Behind us, Marcus reaches the doorway.
He sees the handprint.
He freezes in place.
There is no anger on his face. There is no smugness. No control.
Only terror.
“What is that?” he whispers.
Eli does not let go of Maya. He turns just enough to glare at Marcus.
“Get out,” he says.
Marcus looks from us to the window, to the trembling child, and something inside him finally snaps. His arrogance evaporates. Fear floods in.
“Seraphina,” he whispers. “Something is wrong with this house.”
“No kidding,” Eli snaps.
Marcus backs into the hallway. Then he turns and bolts down the stairs. He does not bother with a goodbye. The front door slams, and his car roars down the street like he is running from a fire.
Eli sits Maya on my bed. I gather her into my arms.
“She was looking at me,” Maya cries. “She was looking at me, and she looked sad and scared, and she said she did not want to go back in the creek.”
Eli stiffens like someone electrified him.
I stroke Maya’s hair. “Baby, what did she say?”
Maya hiccups around her words. “She said she did not want the water again.”
Eli sinks onto the edge of the bed. His elbows rest on his knees, and his hands cover his face.
“No,” he whispers.
I hold Maya close, trying to steady her breathing, trying not to crumble completely.
The handprint remains on the glass.
Cold.
Wet.
Slowly dripping toward the sill.
Proof.
Proof that something was here.
Not imagined.
Not dreamed.
Not misunderstood.
Something real.
Something watching.
Something trying to speak through my child.
When Maya’s breathing finally calms, she looks up at me with swollen eyes.
“Mama,” she whispers.
“Yes, baby.”
Her voice is tiny and trembles. “The lady said you have to remember before he makes you forget again.”
Eli lifts his head. His eyes look raw, stripped open, full of secrets he has tried to hold back for too long.
“Sera,” he whispers.
I look at him.
At the fear.
At the guilt.
The air feels charged between us.
Heavy with everything unsaid.
I wipe Maya’s tears and settle her in my lap, trying to keep her safe while my entire world tilts.
“Eli,” I whisper, “tell me what happened that night.”
His breath shakes.
His hands tremble.
His voice breaks when he finally answers.
“Sera, you were not the only one who lied.”